Sadness

When I heard the news of Christopher Reeve's death, I felt great sadness, fear, anger and some loneliness. Only quadriplegics and their loved ones know what we go through. Christopher Reeve died of an infection related to a decubitus ulcer. Most are unaware that we get these ulcers (also known as pressure sores or bed sores) from sitting in one position for up to 18 hours a day. Most also don't know about the wild fluctuations in blood pressure or the bladder infections or of the consequences of catheters or the difficulty regulating bowels or the violent spasms that can wreak havoc with our daily lives.

A cruel wind blew yesterday at the intersection of Allegheny and Aramingo Avenues, where skid marks, broken glass, and a makeshift tribute - all overshadowed by the sadness etched on faces - memorialized the death of another Philadelphia police officer. It was here that Sgt. Timothy Simpson was killed Monday night when, police said, a car driven by a career criminal carrying packets of heroin slammed into his cruiser. Simpson, 46, a decorated 20-year veteran, was the fourth officer killed in the line of duty in less than seven months.

In Tom Ferrick's June 3 "Campaign '86: Analysis" article, I found a statement by Rep. Lawrence Coughlin (R., Pa.) very disturbing. Speaking of Montgomery County GOP chairman Bob Asher's indictment in the CTA case, Mr. Coughlin said, "This is a sad and tragic time for Bob and his family. " Similar comments came out of the Delaware County Courthouse when GOP controller James Scanlan quickly resigned after it was discovered he falsely portrayed himself as a CPA and was allegedly using his courthouse phone number for his private accounting practice.

The tragedies pile one atop the next, like snow across the central hills, and the latest is that Joe Paterno, hectored by cancer and battered by the events of the last three months, lost his last battle with the clock on Sunday morning. Family and friends were called to the hospital throughout the day Saturday as the 85-year-old former coach's condition deteriorated and the final vigil began. There is nothing but sadness that all of it has happened. There was only that while reporting the story of child abuse that emerged from the Penn State campus, and only regret, a regret shared by Paterno, that more wasn't done to deal with a predator in their midst.

Only at the end of a long, cheerful visit with Bob Butera and Marilyn Sifford does a little sadness slip into the conversation, and then only with prompting. We're sitting on a bench overlooking their woodland garden on almost two acres in Jeffersonville, Montgomery County, and Sifford is asked to explain her relationship to this splendid place. "I've lost so many people in my life," she begins: a brother at 17, a sister at 22, both parents within three months, and still others, including her first husband, Inquirer columnist Darrell Sifford, who drowned while snorkeling during the couple's vacation in Belize in 1992.

Only at the end of a long, cheerful visit with Bob Butera and Marilyn Sifford does a little sadness slip into the conversation, and then only with prompting. We're sitting on a bench overlooking their woodland garden on almost two acres in Jeffersonville, Montgomery County, and Sifford is asked to explain her relationship to this splendid place. "I've lost so many people in my life," she begins: a brother at 17, a sister at 22, both parents within three months, and still others, including her first husband, Inquirer columnist Darrell Sifford, who drowned while snorkeling during the couple's vacation in Belize in 1992.

IDON'T KNOW who is responsible for that Sept. 11 editorial ("A Farewell to Tears"), but may I make a suggestion for that person - send it to one of the families of the victims of the World Trade Center, or the Pentagon or Flight 93. Because I think that they will agree that we should just stop crying over losing lives that were innocent. And you know what, America has moved on and we have become stronger and we have moved on and these cold calculating killers have not stopped us from moving on but . . . we can never stop crying, the sadness is too overwhelming.

THOUGH PIXAR is the closest thing in the movie business to a can't-miss studio, there has been grumbling recently that the company's been playing it safe. Pixar spent the first decade of the new century releasing completely original titles, seven in all, then started living off the dividends of sequels - "Toy Story 3," "Cars 2," "Monsters University. " Nit-pickers wondered: Had the company lost its nerve? If so, they've gone to the right fellow to get it back - Pete Docter, the animator who helmed "Up," the movie that concluded and perhaps capped its great 2000-09 run. No one can say Docter is playing it safe with "Inside Out," a boldly imagined animated feature that goes inside the brain of a sad, struggling girl, and breaks her emotions down into individual characters - Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness - all trying to manage the girl's mood.

A Molotov cocktail of newsreel and motion-capture animation, Chicago 10 suggests that Karl Marx was half-right. History does not repeat itself the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. In Brett Morgen's remix of news reports and political theater, the clash between antiwar protesters and police on the streets of the Windy City during the 1968 Democratic Convention, history reprises the first time as tragedy and the second time as cartoon. Cameras were not permitted in the courtroom where organizers of the protest subsequently were tried for conspiracy.

Near the end, after his breathtaking appearance on The Voice - and later, his aching withdrawal from the show - even as he fell deeper into despair and addiction, even as he posed for photographs for fans on the street by day and searched for unlocked cars to sleep in at night, Anthony Riley was singing more beautifully than ever. Originals. Not covers. Songs he could call his own. And not on street corners or in train stations, but in grand rehearsal spaces, where his towering voice echoed through the empty halls, belonging.

Clutching a fluffy white cat and memories of the woman he loved and lost, Angelo Jacques Manglehorn is the kind of sad-sack gent whom actors with ham in their hearts would head-butt each other to play. Al Pacino (who else?!) won the bout, if there was one, and furrows his brow in epic woebegoneness in David Gordon Green's thick-as-sap character study, Manglehorn . Set in a small town in Texas and in the rueful echo chambers of Manglehorn's mind (lots of voice-over letters to Clara, his long-gone muse)

IT'S BEEN a crazy month in Flyerland. Kimmo Timonen finally won his Stanley Cup, albeit with another team. Chris Pronger, who hasn't laced 'em up since the Phillies were good and still has a couple of years left on his gaudy contract, was traded, at least technically. And then, a few days later, he was named to the Hall of Fame. Up until now, the only current players who received such an honor had names like McCartney, Dylan, Jagger and, of course, Springsteen. But the craziest chapter of the month in Flyerland involves, sadly, the Flyers captain who preceded Pronger.

THOUGH PIXAR is the closest thing in the movie business to a can't-miss studio, there has been grumbling recently that the company's been playing it safe. Pixar spent the first decade of the new century releasing completely original titles, seven in all, then started living off the dividends of sequels - "Toy Story 3," "Cars 2," "Monsters University. " Nit-pickers wondered: Had the company lost its nerve? If so, they've gone to the right fellow to get it back - Pete Docter, the animator who helmed "Up," the movie that concluded and perhaps capped its great 2000-09 run. No one can say Docter is playing it safe with "Inside Out," a boldly imagined animated feature that goes inside the brain of a sad, struggling girl, and breaks her emotions down into individual characters - Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness - all trying to manage the girl's mood.

With her company Applied Mechanics, Mary Tuomanen has given Philadelphia's adventurous audiences some great shows ( Vainglorious is my favorite). The same for her collaborations with Aaron Cromie (the extraordinary The Body Lautrec in last year's Fringe, say). Her new Hello! Sadness! is a solo piece, though Tuomanen created it with Cromie and Rebecca Wright, under Annie Wilson's direction. The title comes from Françoise Sagan's best-selling novel, Bonjour Tristesse , written when the author was 17. That age becomes thematic in the show: the same age as Joan of Arc, and the same age as Fred Hampton when he became the head of the NAACP in Chicago, four years before he was killed by police as a member of the Black Panthers.

WE NEED another language to describe the pain of losing a child, because the words we use - "It's unnatural," "No parent should live longer than her son," "What a tragedy" - don't convey the full weight or nature of that suffering. When you look at the faces of those who have experienced the death of a son or daughter, you realize even years later that they are not completely whole. Living without part of your heart, walking on half a limb and navigating the light with a constant shadow, it is the deepest of all sorrows.

Ed Snider, chairman of the Flyers' parent company, Comcast-Spectacor, said he felt pained when coach Craig Berube was fired Friday, six days after his offensive-challenged team completed a 33-31-18 season. "It's always difficult to let somebody go that has worked so hard and has particularly been such a good member of our organization," Snider said in a statement. Berube spent parts of 18 years with the organization as a player, coach, or assistant. He may be given another job in the organization.

Here is the sad, short story of the life of Sebastian. And the story of the agency charged with protecting him. Sebastian's story is heartbreaking. The other story is proof that while Philadelphia has come a long way in protecting endangered children, there is still a good way to go. Sebastian Wallace died of an overdose in October. He was 2. He had enough of his father's illegally obtained Oxycodone pills in him to kill an adult three times over. Police in Bucks County - where Sebastian was staying with his father - have not said exactly how Sebastian ingested the pills.

We know enough now about the death of Firefighter Joyce Craig to say that many things went wrong the night she lost her life battling a West Oak Lane basement blaze. It's also clear that Craig's death is wrapped up in a larger problem: The Fire Department needs to recommit to giving its members the training they need and want. Craig's professionalism and bravery are not in question. Neither is the bravery of other firefighters who gave their lives battling fires in recent years: Lt. Robert Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney, killed in 2012 when a roof collapsed in an abandoned factory in Kensington.

It should be no secret by now that having guns in the home increases the chances that a member of the family will kill himself or herself. But the extent of the increase may surprise some people. In a study of adults, epidemiologist Douglas Wiebe found that the risk of suicide is three times higher for people who have a gun in the home than for people without guns. Guns in the home also raise the risk of homicide and accidental deaths. "The bottom line is that people with a gun in the home are more likely to die by suicide than other people," said Wiebe, who studies risks associated with gun ownership at the University of Pennsylvania.